|
|
|
Jewish World Review April 4, 2005 / 24 Adar II, 5765 Man of faith's final lesson By Michael Goodwin
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
When his place is settled in history's ledgers, the legacy of Pope John Paul will focus on the big picture of his 26-year reign. Front-and-center will be such iconic facts as his being the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years, the way he stood up to Communism in his native Poland, the grueling traveling ministry that took him to 133 countries, the forceful way he advocated traditional church teachings on peace, poverty and protecting the unborn.
Much emphasis, too, will be placed on how he survived serious wounds in an assassination attempt, then went to the cell of his would-be killer to forgive him. And how he visited Israel to apologize for Catholic anti-Semitism and established Vatican diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.
Yet for all those stirring moments, we are witnessing the creation of another important dimension of that legacy. The Pope is teaching the world how to die. Never underestimate the power of an example. And as we watch John Paul alternately resist, navigate and endure the darkness closing in on him, it is impossible not to react in personal terms. And not just for Catholics. Anyone facing death - their own or a loved one's - is getting a dramatic lesson on life's final moments.
Indeed, the timing of the Pope's decline, coming as America is consumed with the legal battle and death of Terri Schiavo, has added an extra dose of poignancy. That the Vatican announced the Pope had been given a feeding tube just as the courts were denying one to Schiavo neatly illustrated the universality of the issue.
And for those who had any doubts, the Pope's treatment showed exactly where he and his Church stand on the emotional question of sustaining human life with new technology.
No surprise there. From the start, John Paul has been a thoroughly modern Pope. His world travels and a savvy use of television and books broadened his message while also making the often-mysterious Vatican seem a more contemporary, open institution. Some of that impulse surely has to do with his age - he was only 58 when he was elected in 1978, a relatively young man for the enormous task of leading the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
But the incredible openness with which the 84-year-old Pope has chosen to share his decline and even his final moments reflects nothing so much as his desire to lead by example. His wish, he revealed recently, is "to unite my own sufferings with those of Christ."
And so, as he came during Easter week to a window to greet crowds below, his hands noticeably trembled from the Parkinson's disease wrecking his body. His head slumped into his chest and attempts to talk usually led to unintelligible sounds and even drooling. And it was all carried on television around the world.
Even the Vatican tendency toward secrecy gave way to regular public statements chronicling his worsening condition. The announcement that he had received last rites on Thursday was followed by regular updates that, in thinly veiled language, revealed the failure of his organs as death approached.
It's painful to watch, this public dying. The first instinct is to avert the eyes, to turn away, yes, to turn the channel. The urge is to remember the beaming, vigorous man whose first act when visiting a new country was to drop to his knees and kiss the earth.
We'll always have that image of John Paul, and so many others that captured his crusade of faith and compassion. But the images of these last days are compelling, too, and I believe history will ultimately decide they exist in harmony with, not in contrast to, the earlier ones. For taken together, John Paul has left us not only an example of how to live life, but also how to end it.
The picture is now complete.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Michael Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Daily News. Comment by clicking here. © 2005, NY Daily News Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services |
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles | |||||||||||
